Semyon Zelenskyy
Semyon Zelenskyy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 May 1924 |
| Died | 10 June 1993 (aged 69) Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine |
Branch | Red Army MVD |
Rank | Colonel |
Conflicts | World War II |
| Awards |  Order of the Red Star (x2) |
| Children | 1 (Oleksandr Zelenskyy) |
Semyon (Simon) Ivanovich Zelensky (Ukrainian: Семен Іванович Зеленський; 5 May 1924 – 10 June 1993) was a Soviet-Ukrainian infantryman and law enforcement official, who was the paternal grandfather of the 6th President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and father of the head of the Kryvyi Rih State University's Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware, Oleksandr Zelensky.[1]
Biography
He was born in Kryvyi Rih, in the Ekaterinoslav Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR, He is of Jewish origin. During the Second World War, joined the Red Army, enlisting in the summer of 1941 and graduating from a military academy the following year. Over the course of the war, he was the commander of a mortar platoon, and then the commander of a rifle company of the 174th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division.[2][3] In this capacity, he took part in the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive.[4] In 1944, he received two Orders of the Red Star. He ended the war with the rank of Guards Lieutenant. By the end of the war, his three brothers had been killed during the Holocaust in Ukraine,[5][6][7][8] and both of his parents were killed after the Wehrmacht burned their home to the ground.[9]
Post-war
After the end of the war, Zelenskyy transferred to the service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union. He met his wife, and not too long after had their son Oleksandr in late 1947.[10] He held the position of Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kryvyi Rih Department of Internal Affairs, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR.[11] He retired with the rank of colonel. He died on 10 June 1993, in the city of his birth. He was buried at the Vsebratsky Cemetery.
Notes
- ↑ Shuster, Simon (2024-01-04). "Where Zelensky Comes From". TIME. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
- ↑ "Volodymyr Zelensky Was a Jewish Comedian. Now the World's Eyes Are on Him". The Detroit Jewish News. 28 February 2022. LCCN sn94088996. OCLC 32399051. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ↑ "Отбил 4 атаки и уничтожил врага: чем прославился дедушка Зеленского во Второй мировой войне". 9 May 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ↑ "ТАСС: Взвод деда Зеленского во время войны уничтожил до 15 немецких солдат". Российская газета (in Russian). 2025-05-08. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
- ↑ Cramer, Philissa (2 March 2022). "18 things to know about Jewish defender of Ukrainian democracy Volodymyr Zelensky". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ↑ "Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the story of his family during a joint speech with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu". president.gov.ua. 24 January 2020. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ↑ Brockell, Gillian (25 February 2022). "Putin says he'll 'denazify' Ukraine. Its Jewish president lost family in the Holocaust". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ↑ Zelinsky, Misha (April 2022). "'No culture, no sports, only fighting': The steel town that forged Volodymyr Zelensky". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ↑ "Interview with Volodymyr Zelensky". CNN (Interview). Interviewed by Zakaria, Fareed. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2025 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Horovitz, David (19 January 2020). "A serious man: Zelensky bids to address Ukraine's dark past, brighten its future". Times of Israel. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ↑ Harding, Luke; Cherry, Christopher (2022-08-19). "'He was special': the story of Zelenskiy told by his home town". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-28.